no you're ntst. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy.how happy are they jimmy?r than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. . she islacking, repudiation, meltdown, landslide, mudslide it's wednesday november 7th and this is "now." joining me today, msnbc political analyst and national affairs editor for new york ma emmy darlings john heilemann, msnbc political analyst and former rnc chairman the notorious michael steele host of msnbc's politics nation the inimitable reverend

al sharpton and "time" and political analyst, our other emmy darling mark halperin. >> america has given president obama a new four-year lease on the house at 1600 pennsylvania ight, itg mo. >> the president not only big. >> this shellacking electoral results, it looks like a rout. >> source close to the romney summed up their feelings in three words, this one stings. >> the six-round knockout out of nowhere. >> we were sitting in the pumpkin patch waiting for the great pumpkin to rise. never came. >> no. >> as it turned no one sing state was crucial for the president with the exception of north carolina president obama took every single battleground state. the only remaining question is florida which hasn't yet been called and where the president still holds a lead. last night at 12 minutes past 11:00, 12 minutesfirst declared the winner in 2008 the president clenched ohio and with it re-election.

but a few were too shocked to believe it. >> all i'm saying is is that look we've had one instance where we're -- where something was prematurely called. >> karl rove is here with michael back there with the decision desk. we would like to refer to this as cage match 2012 bring it go. >> just before midnight while karl rove protested ay held at his rtz in dave weigel tweeted -- nobody tell rove but the ohio gop has conceded and gone home. at 12:50 in the morning, romney called to congratulate the president and shortly after used his concession speech to call for national unity. >> i so i had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader and so ann and i join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation. >> just after 1:00 a.m. president obama took the stage in chicago and in an eeb lex cycle that has parsed every

line, and smile, it was clear he saved his most powerful oratory for the very end. >> we are not as divided as our politics suggest. we're not as cynical as the pundits believe. we are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions and we remain more than a collection of red states andstates we are and forever will be the united states of america. and together with your help and god's we will continue our journey forward. >> reverend al, the president rode into office on a wave of hope and change, but i wonder after last night, is the change really, perhaps, for the second term? could the president have a mandate to really change the way >> i think a lot of it will be the tone that he and the p set coming out of this. i th there is clearly the possibility of change. i think that on the president's

side and those of us that have been supportive and the democratic side, it is not a day of "i told you so" or gloating because there was at a lot risk here. we'll dealt everything in this election from voter suppression to gay rights to women rights so in many ways we can exhale and say, we didn't go backwards. now how do we put our best foot forward to go forward and appeal to the republicans that we need to have some common ground without compromising our principles. that's going to be a delicate balance. i think romney's statement last night was positive and obviously i'm not one that has given him a lot of commendations but he said what needed to be said last night that i didn't think he would and we'll see where it goes. i think that the president and what he said and the tone he set is where those of us that are supportive are going to have to ive him but at the same time say to him, we won, we don want to see

certain things it was remarkable and nice for the american electorate that both men chose to focus on unity at a moment when it could have been about victory tore defeat and the message is let's carry this forward, we're still one united states of america. >> i think all of us have respect for both of them and have seen both of them act like that in their careers, not so much during the campaign itself. if those two guys had waged a campaign i think we would have had a better more uplifting campaign and the winner would have had more of a mandate than i think the president has. he still has a big mandate.h( i think he's got tons of running room on the left. obama care is now going to be implemented. >> right. >> that alone is a historic achievement for progressives and the big things the p to deal with the grand bargain that's going to require running room because the house controlled by the republicans. climate change he brought up yesterday after not bringing it up much as a candidate, a candidathings progressives would love to see. those are the three big items

and i unity is the great opportunity of the fiscal cliff, which is otherwise filled with peril. if he doesn't solve it this term could be rough. if he does had he could have an even more productive term and term more in keeping with what the promise was of a bipartisan presidency in 2008. >> if you unpack how the president won, it is a coalition in many ways of a new america. looking at the demographics overall, president obama won 93% of black voters, 7b 1% of la teen -- 71% of latinos, 61% of young voters 55% of women. overall i thought this was gering. obama won 39% of the white vote. chairman steele romney won 20% of it. future and the republican party, my party, had better awaken itself to this new reality. mean i tried during my tenure i know it gets -- ed gillespie

tried a little during his tenure, ken mehlman. in each of the last three or four chairmanships we've t towards this reality. but i feel in many respects we took major step backwards in the last two years because it wasark. the language the way the people reacted to us our party, our language and how we expressed our points of view. i reverend touched on something which is for me at least is going to be very is#- important in the ongoing debate that isn oursn't want do it the right doesn't want to do it but both sides will have to find the consensus around those principles they share common in order for us to move this fo to the president for because he is the one i think who can set the toned the pace with the leadership and say look okay we've been in this room before.'ve done this crazy dance. now the american people have made it very clear what they want and this is a direction i think we should lead in. whether it's the issues that mark raised or other issues that the ry

thinkleadership can come together. has to come from republicans? there has to be some realization and actualization on the party side? >> no doubt about that. there has to be. lookf washington understand the history of, you know, the change that republicans have agreed to in the past that has notby the left. and so that is the s that is the suspicion that underlines everything that they legislatively and i'm talking more in terms of the party itself and who is in the republican party. >> in one sense they're two separate things but in the other same thing because a lott party piece, got those tea party activists -- i helpedinto congress. they got there on the principled argument, you know i'm proud of that fact on the principled argument -- >> a lot of facial expressions from the right. >> they got there on the principled arguments they wanted to do something about controlling government spending. so that was principled argument. now a lotd since that. >> they also happ tea partiers and conservatives in congress have put forward some of the most draconian legislation a social policy that cost them the election in many ways. john your skep

enthus to point out one thing was asian americans which the president performed -- >> which is telling. >> performed 70% of america that looks like you. it's -- the thing about all those coalition members and this i'm going to go what michael was talking about a second just performed incredibly strongly with them all of them increased their percentage of the electorate over 2008. this is the coalition, not that just looks like them future of multi cultu america, the coalition of the ascendent. the white percentage of the vote was three points. every one of the groups you larger thaears from now after that. so, you know, look the president' a political reality here. >> oh, yeah. >> that is if they don't get right with it they are going to be in untenable, implausible governing party in america is moving in the direction that it's moving.now, if you -- if i were john boehner, the first thing i would do this afternoon is s say, mr. president, let's do comprehigration reform right now. we got to get the hispanic vote -- if republicans are --

mitt romneihy got 26, 27% of the hispanic vote last night. if that's the trend down from john mccain, down from george bush, if that's t not just a -- a unsuccessful party you're a extix party. >> a huge opportunity forrepublicans. they can step rning. "the new york times" writing this is not reagan's america anymore. what the democrats have is effectively the new coalition of america. >> i think following up on john's point, the reality that the repub a new america, they're em boldnd because now we not afraid boehner, and we're not afraid of you tea party. we beat you. and nowou've got to deal with6 y! the reality that those issues and those things you represented, don't fit. so if survive as a mainstream you're going issue. it's not about just getting a guy have a you're goi ppeal to the latinos, african-americans and gays or thoser their support based

on their bas >> i'm to both thehere. for the republican party your know what our new reality is every month, 50,000 hispanics turn 18 years old. every month. hispanic youth every year. do you really think this party wants to spend the rest of the next 20 40 50 in the political desert? if they do great, he your moment. gark, that is something that has been acknowledged by people ublican party whet tbush whether it's a marco rubio, they just haven't had the power, i guess, within the power to make that a priority. does that happen after this? >> here's what i think messed them up. they had great success. the president gets elected. we're in the wilderness for a decade. chris christie and bob mcdonnell win and two months later scott brown wins shelack the president in the ideas, with any strong leaders, they didn't come up with infrastructure, they didn't come up with ways roots beyond saying we'll stop obama pelosi and reid. president wasoing the contrast

himself they couldn't win. the rethinking of how do we stand up to our party and bring them to the center on something to your point, we did have those new ideas. that's how we built the coalition of success es around the country, elected an alan west and -- >> well but that the party. >> obama pelosi and reid. alance the budget. >> you're talking macro. i'm talking micro. i'm talking on the ground in neighborhoods, there's a reason why my was to go to harlem in harlem election as natioe to that was, why are you in harlem? that's where the voters core effort by the national party was to the state parties to generate that energy remembering where we were coming from '06 and '08. we didn't have -- i'm not -- minimizing the symbolism. >> jettison that. >> the symbolism of reaching out and since you left being chair, that went away and that's a big problem for the party. but to become a majority party -- >> yes. >> ideas leaders,

organizations. >> absolutely. >> coordination between the national party and congressional wing, nothing. >> didn't happen. true. >> and maybe stop rape. that's my little asterisk to theof break. thank you as always to the reverend al sharpton his insight. >> i leave you with the chairman and good hands. >> news zombies. >> chairman and my two zombie darls. join reverend al sharpton for politics nation every week day at 6:00 p.m eastern here on this channel w home, msnbc. after the break, will last night's decisive defeat inspire soul searching within the gop? we will look at grand old prob w>tx

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if you record then down the party. shut it down. start new with new people because this is a gimme election. >> if the republican party cannot win in this environment it has to get out of politics. >> i think this victory will set off civil war inside the republican party. there's going to be a lot of soul searching. this was a winnable election. the president was vulnerable.

>> this was not alabama versus lsu. this was alabama versus ball state. i mean went early, michigan went t early. mean i republican i cannot believe we lost virginia again. >> once upon a time conservatives licked their chops at the prospect of taking on an incumbent in a down economy but that dashed on tuesday night. now comes the wreckening a struggle within the gop to figure out what happened. was it the candidate, was it the message, was it the country? quote, there will be some kind of war predicted mike murphy a consultant would pit mathematicians like him against the party puristspriests as he puts it that basic conservative principles can triumph without much deviation. "the wall street journal" journal" faulted the party's transgents and offering another broadside against mitt romney calling him one of the least natural politicians off ur era. roas the only one who fell short last night. john cornyn the man in charge

of gop efforts to verge of gaining seats, a 180-degree turnaround from what many expected. cornyn wrote, quote -- >> snortles around. joining the panel is jody kantor of the "new york times." welcome. >> thank you. >> a lot of assessment and night about what happened. i guess following all that sound and quotes, wrb does wrshs where does the gop writes no doubt the media must insist the republicans must change embrace social liberalism is hogwash which is why republicans to reject it. their ideology is n a problem. >> my colleague carl set up a great contrast in this morning d said

the republicans have two camps. they have the mathematicians, people who are demographic numbers you were talking about saying the party has no choice. then on the other ha are the priests, hard-core ideologues who believe that if only the republican party could be more conservatively pure, they could dominate. so we are going to see the latest chapter of a struggle that has been playing out for a while over the soul of the gop. and in a way, it is a weird postponement of coming that was supposed to happen four years ago. four years ago we sat here barack obama had had an even more transcendent victory than the one he had last night, and we were all predicting that there would be a huge essentially never happened. >> you know and independent of the sort of of the gop, john, the exbe it polling on the actual policy i thought was staggering. for the economy, 53% of voters said george w. bush 38% saighout the year, throughout the last two years, to tie the american economy, didn't seem to work. and then again on the people

this thing, ily matters and i've always said i don'tnk americans pull the lever for someone they don't like exit pulling onike you, president obama got 53%, mitt romney got 43%. >> yeah. it's interesting, you know be certainly the obama team always thought that when they looked at their research which they did copiously all the time and really aggressively was that the understanding in the electorate of how deep the hole was that the president inherited was much more profound than we gave people credit for and that people, when they went out and focus groups people were not blaming george w. bush as much as knowing it wasn't obama's fault and taking a long time. they kept asking themselves how can it be we're doing as well we're doing in this bad economy. they would go and ask people over and over again and people would say we know it's going to take four years or five years to get out of this hole. and then back the next year and the people would say the same thing. another four years. they got the deep structural problem with the economy and that in combination as you said with the president's likability. one of the interesting things about undecided voters at the

end of an presumption is always if it's an incumbent president they've been living with three and a half years, if they're not for him in the summer of the election year they're looking for a reason to get to know trying to figure out is the alt acceptable. with obama he is in some ways so many people root for him, even people w even people who have issues with his economic management they kind of want him to succeed andnk it turned out with a lot of undecided voters they actually were always looking for a reason to get to yes as opposed to a reason to get to no. they never quite -- romney could never tear these people from the president. in the end they didn't love either option but rooted for obama more than they could ever >> you see buyers remorse as "the wall street journal"journal" journal" mentions that mitt romney was an insufficient candidate. how much -- >> please. spare me. >> but how much do you think that's going to be a factor? >> i said this is so pitiful, the second-guessing, monday morning months of a republican primary,

how many freakin', you know debateyou had everybody and their sister and brother on that stage and the people in the party decided who they wanted. live with it. and now you have to design and reconfigure and understa has meant. so to sit back and say mitt romney wasn't this or that cry me a river. it's toote. it doesn't change anything. it doesn't change any outcome and it doesn't advance the conversation about what the party needs to do next and what's needs to do next is take its head out of its you know what and understand exactly what's going on in this country. it looks a lot more like me and you than it does them. it só= folks on this panel than it does what we hear inside of the party. it comes from neighborhoods that we have yet to even discover. so the reality for the party right now, is to stop the guessing before it starts and to really understand you're got leaders right now, don't just put a marco rubio out in front

and say we got one. you know been there, done that. >> the quickest thing, just to add and interject, say whatever you want about romney doesn't explain what happened in the senate. >> exactly. exactly. >> you know might explain romney but doesn't explain the rest of the probl has. >> seems what the party needs, i'm tired when my defenses are down i quote twitter attacks, they need aconservative, a reformer with results who's comfortable going after washington as a presidential candidate including his own party, who has a record as a of getting things done. >> whose name is chris christie. bush. george w. bush circa 1999. >> absolutely. >> i was going to say he's clearing brush in crawford right now. was a reformer with results who was comfortable with the right, but could speak to suburban voters and was not afraid to go to california, african-american neighborhoods and cleveland hispanic be neighborhoods. i think that person would do well for the republican party. >> it's the republican bill clinton of 1990/ '91.

>> whose role we have not talked about in this break. >> in a web extra. >> web extra. halperin be volunteering to do a web extra. america just heard that. web extra on bill clinton. coming up americans once again select a democratic-controlled white house and senate while republicans retain the house. is the real winner gridlock? ways to unite these divided states just ahead on "now." [ female announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without

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gridlocks. they're tired of things like well i have one goal defeat obama. that's gone. obama was re-elected overwhelmingly. american people want us to work together. >> we will discuss the prospects for compromise next on "now." [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop? campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over and over again. ♪ ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. see what's new from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. y; but when i was in an accident...

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i really do mean that. democrat republican independent, libertarian, contrarian vegetarian i don't care. >> that was newly-elected massachusetts senator elizabeth warren on "morning joe across the aisle she will reach. last night's congress looking much the same as it did before voters went to the polls. at this hour republicans still control the house. while democratshe very good night during which they two seats. in indiana joe donnelly beat richard mourdock in the race to replace dick lugar, massachusetts, elizabeth warren won a showdown against scott brown. the first signs of how the police congress will govern might come this afternoon when house s discusses the cliff. last night boehner struck a tone saying quote --

>> but he also seemed to indicate that compr >> with this vote the american people have also made clear that there's no mandate for raising tax rates. message from senator mitch mcconnell who has to work with a president he vowed to only give one ight -- : now washington is chief national correspondent for "the new york times" magazi mark leibovich. mark leibovich, what we know and

what we don't know. >> hi alex. >> what we don't know is how this what we know is the upper chamber may be even fyhrier --fierier -- you're of words. it's cruz will be legislating alongside e warren as a denison of washington, d.c. politics, what do you think the implications of that are? >> well i mean look every senate and every congress has its own sort of ecosystem and its own person and harry reid will still be in charge but i think that calculus of one president obama not being an incumbent anymore and also mitch mcconnell having another four years removed from his imperative toe president will be different. there's always going to belogical divides, you know, among specific members, whether cruz or elizabeth warren or jesse helms and ted kennedy but i think the lar senate will toip again but also kind ofrward. i think there areeal

chances just because of the calendar and also because of the results last night to maybe do some things in the first year or so that might not be there after >> mark, you had a great piece t mcauliffe and haley barbour, f lack a better network, they all got along, enjoyed the game of tics. we saw a pretty deep hemorrhaging of moderat the d to like -- and ladie w nt may work more closely wnate if the senate can its cats herded into the same wheel dare wheelbarrow -- i'm going for it -- how does anything get done >> essentially the m model is different because they're both out of office and businessmen now. point of that story is washington is a bipartisan place when it comes to business dealings, when it comes to frankly making money out of the more relevant and frankly sort of ted kennedy jshs john mccain, ted

kennedy/orrin hatch, lawmakers in officeactually would make deal the last big one you would see would have been they8 guess that was 2006 which never passed. again, that moderates, that took some real leadership across the aisle f the actually get something done. i just don't -- i think those people are very much disappearing. a lot has been centered again on the sort of gridlock leadership environment and the dealmakers aren't thereas a classic dealmaker until so we're)wing to will in terms of the president and how he negotiates the new congress which, you know, in terms of balance of power is not radically priorities through, mark mentioned immigration reform talked about that, climate change put sort of front and center in the bloomberendorsement, what's your feeling on how he approaches the second term and his relationship which has le side now.q moreid four years ago and he also h result really than anybody expected. today especially wh look at what happened in the senate. it reallyssage. the in washington ask is17 will he reach

out more?ome almost this pel lament. you can hear it on any street corner in will the in? will he spend more casual time with members of congres ice. >> i mean mymption, mark maybe this is me just i don't know, spitballing, but he does some -- there is some following his re-election, that he he grand hereerted outreach to republican leadership given how much he w beating states of america, that he knows how much the gridlock is not serving anybody we of howhimself with limited outreach to republicans and democrats. you could say have the baners and mcdonnells up to:< campmn david one weekend soon. it's going to take more sustained contact than just a few symboli and it's not something he's been willing to do up to now and not clear that he's -- he feels he needs to do it. now there'srom chief of staff to treasury secretary. he's a good deal maker and has decent relationships on the hill. he needs either a new chief of staff if jack moves new

treasury secretary if it's someone else, a true amb t or vice president can do day in and d the thing moving on the b >> do you think democrats and ifically the wzhite house will say what can we do to make it better how can we c stronger? >> >> i don't think the obama admini very much in gesture or camp david or lot, but i some process where they feel like there is some reconciliation that's necessary and figure out a way do it. we'll see. >> maybe a beer summit. thank you to "the new york times" magazines mark as always sir. nt obama, so what will they get policy perhaps second tere past can be a guide. we will climb into the way back machine ahead on "now."

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the first policy victory of president obama's second term is already known and it is something that will not change. obama care. governor romney had vowed repeal the affordable care act on day one but the president's re-election implementation. ezra klein notes the president's financial reforms and expiring bush tax cuts are victories ensured by last night's results. he writes -- in 2008 the election was a vote for hope in 2012 his re-election carries achange. joining us is presidential historian michael thanks for joining the program. >> pleasure alex.

>> really interesting here in terms of how president obama is treated in the long arc of had history and i guess can you give us an example, the historian you are, of previous presidents that have had rocky first terms but whose second terms cement their first terms? >> they generally don't tend to because alex if you look over the last century, usually these two-termres have the awful second terms, almost without exception. lot of reasons for that. but one of them has been is the best case of this or lbj, during the first term and in lbj's case 1964, there are as lot of things they want they'll be politically controversial get a big re-election and then a president that doesn't have to worry about the electorate and let it rip the year after i'm re-elected 37 in johnson's case great society but big escalation of vietnam. 1973 nixon after the landslide declared a program of such extreme conservatisme barack obama has been the opposite of that because the most important thing i think he wanted to do was health care

perhaps the most politically costly, and he did it in a contrarian way, actually instead in his first two years so i think you don't have this big sense that he's saving something up for next year. >> and yet, john if president get the second term it wou unwound the gains made in the hotomy between how the american public assesses him in the long lens of history is dramatically changed by themassively. if you think that d the affordable care act is at t changed almost nothing. it could fundamentally domestic policy an change a large chunk of the economy, of t1n economy but it's not been implemented yet. that alone has changed his place in history, the fact that we're going to see whether it works or not, whether it really does have the impacts it's going to have. i think that the president, you know, there are no great presidents who have -- who have only been one-term presidents. for the president thinks of himself in historiclection beyond the specifics of policy winning re-election and having a chance to do other things in terms of policy but

just winningke cements his place. there would have been a narrative, fair or not, there would have been people in the country who said he was a failure, an accident of history, not a genuinely historic figure if he lost. they couldnow, =c no matter what happens in the last four years. >> on the questiof race i remb talking t harris perry a few months ago, almost the re-election of america's first black president in some ways means more for racial progress than the initial election of the first one. >> yeah. i put them on equal footing. i think the history of last people as well. we took a profound step forward as a nation to say, and to judge the first term of the first black president to such an extent that they say okay you get another term and to john's point, that is very much an important part of that legacy. it really gurdss that legacy whether obama care or anything else the president does i think that now sort of cement accomplished

something that quite frankly apeople friend and foe alike, didn't think was possible. there was real skepticism about whether or not the country -- we did it once do we really need to do this again? and they did. and i thought that was an important step forward. >> we haven't talked too much about the supreme court appointments. >> right. >> minor detail. >> minor detail but in terms of the legacy that president obama leaves behind i mean he could have a tweeted yesterday, ruth bader#< ginsburg is researching retirement plans tonight. it is very likely that there will be some new obama ape bench. >> yes. i think it is very likely and you know if you lookacklegacy of george w. bush one of the most long-lasting legacies he left not only appointing a justices to the supreme court, but judges at lower levels all over the united stat to serve asges for a very long time. >> jody? >> i was just going to say that i would bet if we're sitting discussing barack obama's talking about something t different that none of us are considering right now. z- >> absolutely right. >> the other presidency is that they

just get overtaken by obama's team in november 2008 that they would be dealing withe of greek pensioners and that this would help determine the outcome of the looked at you yad three heads and we are just at such turbulent time in the world. think of the sto happened last week. you know although of course the president has to make his plans, i just have a feeling that w don't know what's really going to happen. >> michael, just the fact that johnson, vietnam, you think about foreign policy or things often are the things that define for positive or negative president's legacy and we can't anticipate will happen in four years for obama. >> absolutely. >> it's been a on the stage, michael beschloss. >> indeed. and one or two things may happen in the middle east and it may be very soon. >> and as mark halperin points out who could have predicted back on twitter during this hour. >> hold the presses. the biggest event of the last year. >> it is the biggest mentioned frosties two segments ago, all i'm thinking about. >> priorities. areh/ running on very

little sleep. thank you from the depth of my heart, especially to you, news presidential historian adult in the room. >> you're in bad shape, friendliest way. our package, our power panel, johnan ace halperin that is all for see you tomorrow> noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacificn joined by joy reed governor ed rendell, eric baits deep into the 2012 voter data cave with my buddy and author sash that facebook.com/now with alex. "andrea mitchell reports" is coming up next. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! kw oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmyhappier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

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